SWCAC Soccer Rules (revised August 2024): 

Please be sure that all of your coaches see and familiarize themselves with the rules. It is important that  athletic directors provide copies of these rules to their coaches. 

The SWCAC generally follows NFHS rules for game competition, except where a difference is noted in our  league rules below. 

A. Field sizes: (all apply to both high school and middle school fields) 

 1. Fields should be a minimum of 80 yards long and 50 yards wide.  

2. If the field does not meet these standards, no league regular season or playoff game can be played  there. For a regular season game to be played on a field that does not meet these standards, an  exception must be submitted by request to the sport commissioner and approved by league vote before  the season begins. (A “league game” is defined as a game that counts for league standings. If your field  does not meet these specifications and you intend to play a non-league game there, please still  communicate with your opponent ahead of time to make them aware of the field specifications and to  allow them to choose whether they wish to play on your field.) 

B. Ball size 

1. All games (high school and middle school) will be played using a size 5 soccer ball.   2. There is no change in this standard for games played in a state where the ball size of the state athletic association is different. All league games must be played using the ball size listed above. 

C. Half lengths and overtime periods

 1. All high school games must be two halves of 40 minutes each.  

 2. All middle school games must be two halves of 30 minutes each.  

3. If a regular season game ends in a tie at the end of regulation, overtime must be played. Regular season overtime consists of only one 10-minute golden goal period. (This should not be divided into  five-minute periods, and teams should not switch ends of the field halfway through overtime. This is one 10-minute overtime period.) If no goal is scored during this overtime period, the game ends in a tie.

4. If a playoff game ends in a tie at the end of regulation, one overtime period (as explained above) will  be played. If no goal is scored in that overtime period, the game will be decided by a shootout.

D. Officiating

1. A minimum of two officials must be present for all league games (high school and middle school).  

2. Two licensed officials must be scheduled to work each game.  

3. Home teams should notify the scheduled officials in advance that overtime periods may be required.  

4. If the home team fails to schedule officials for a game, the home team will forfeit the game.  

5. If only one official shows up (but the home team did properly schedule the officials), the coaches can decide whether they are both willing to play the game. If both coaches are not willing to play the game,  the game should be rescheduled (at the original away team’s home field, with the original home team  paying for the officials). 

6. If both officials don’t show up for the game (but the home team did properly schedule the officials),  the game should be rescheduled (at the original away team’s home field, with the original home team

paying for the officials).  

7. If a game has to be rescheduled due to a problem with officials not showing up, but there is not  enough time left in the season (or either team has no possible open dates remaining), the matter will be referred to the league soccer commissioners for a decision. 

E. Tie-breaking procedures 

1. High school and middle school section tiebreakers (for division ranking and playoff seeding) are:

1)  head-to-head record between all tied teams,

2) head-to-head goals allowed between all tied teams,

3)  head-to-head goal differential between all tied teams, then

4) coin toss.

There is a 5-goal cap on  credited goal differential for any game. 

2. When applying tiebreakers and the first tiebreaker is used, the next step is to go to the second tiebreaker; there is no situation in which the first tiebreaker will again be applied. For example, if three  teams are tied and the first tiebreaker is used (and one team is eliminated based on those teams’ record  against one another, whereas the other two teams have identical records against all tied teams), the next  step is to move to the second tiebreaker (instead of re-applying the first tiebreaker by looking at head to-head record between the two remaining teams). 

3. For playoff tiebreakers, any forfeit is credited as a 2-0 win for the team receiving the forfeit win. A  team that forfeits any league regular season game will automatically lose any playoff tiebreaker. (In  other words, a team cannot benefit from forfeiting a game, for playoff seeding purposes.) Any concerns,  objections, or appeals to forfeit rulings (and their impact on playoff standings) will be referred to the  soccer commissions for a decision. 

F. Playoff qualification and seeding

1. The top three teams in each high school section (Tri-County and Greater Pittsburgh) will qualify for  the playoffs. The top four teams in each middle school section will qualify for the playoffs. Playoff  format, schedule, and locations will be discussed at the spring meeting. If any section does not have at least three teams, league athletic directors will confer to adjust playoff format and seeding.  

2. The soccer commissioners will periodically discuss playoff qualification and seeding as the regular season nears its conclusion and will communicate with league schools to notify them to make them  aware of their teams’ playoff qualification and seeding.

G. All-conference team (high school varsity only) 

1. The league shall appoint an individual to coordinate and oversee the all-conference voting. 

2. That individual will communicate with league athletic directors and coaches to gather nominations from each team, organize and send out a ballot for voting, and collect and tally votes in time for the teams to be announced at the league championship game. 

3. It is not required that each team have a player represented on the all-conference team.  

4. The all-conference coordinator will announce (as part of the process) the number of players that will  be selected each year. (Typically, we use a number equivalent to 2.5 x the number of teams in the  league, as the number of overall all-conference players.) For each section (Greater Pittsburgh and Tri County), a five-player first-team will be selected, and the rest of the conference’s all-conference  selections will be elected to the second team (comprised of players from both sections). A most valuable player will be named for each section (Greater Pittsburgh and Tri-County).